


Practice Makes Power

by abandoned_quiche



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Community: fandomweekly, Gen, Genocide Route, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 14:59:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6615079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abandoned_quiche/pseuds/abandoned_quiche
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You don't know why you're here, but you want to feel strong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Practice Makes Power

**Author's Note:**

> Fandomweekly #002: Practice Makes Perfect

When you first opened your eyes to the sight of the ruins around you, it was like you'd fallen into another world. As you leave footprints in the dust around you, you correct yourself; this was never _like_ another world, this _was_ another world. That which came before already feels a lifetime away, and you've been given a second chance.

(A chance to do _what_ , exactly?)

Your memories are hazy, but you remember pain. The source is hazy but the force of that emotion is specific, curling like a claw within you unbidden.

There seems to be little expectation of you, here. Toriel approached you, and you were unsure; she seems kind, but anybody can _seem_ kind. You barely know her; you are sure that she holds a lifetime of secrets. Perhaps she will come to trust you and will tell you of them - perhaps the kindness is a mask, and her designs aren't so benevolent. As you stand in the ruins, phone clutched in your hand, it feels impossible to know. Knowledge takes time, and that feels like a risk.

Even without Toriel by your side, each moment is a decision. You already feel in her debt for saving you from that flower creature you encountered, and you're not sure if you like that. Your debt to her is, suddenly, quite large. Menace comes in different forms, though - the flower attacked you, in an open moment of hostility. You understand that. Toriel rescued you.

(But _why_ , though?)

You remember a world of humans. If they were newlyborn or bent over with age, you recognized them as being human. You remember animals. You remember rituals. " _The cow gives its life so that we may live! We give it a comfortable life, and then accept its sacrifice._ " You remember feeling confused, but animals were animals, and couldn't tell you their feelings.

So too does the underground seem to have a similar sort of hierarchy. That flower wasted no time in telling you its feelings, and Toriel seems highly intelligent. You encounter other creatures, though. Small fairy-like beings which seem scared of you from a first glance. Frog-like things. Toriel tells you to speak with them, but you're not sure. You can spare them, but do they understand?

(Spare them from... what?)

Do they understand? You wonder that at length. In a world of monsters, what is a human? Those creatures are the ones approaching you to begin with, too. You can barely walk anywhere without a Froggit bobbing its head at you. Are _they_ aware of what a human is? If so, they are unable to tell you.

Your first kill is a Whimsun. There was something about its nature that made you prickle with irritation. They seem so frightened either way - perhaps there's no harm in giving them something to be afraid of? It disappears into dust, as does the Froggit alongside it. You pause after your victory, feeling... strong, somehow. You're not sure why. There seems little to suggest that Whimsun isn't the weakest inhabitant of this area, but there's something to be said for confirming your place. _You're here, now. Humans and monsters. Where do you fall?_

Those monsters disappear to no great consequence. Toriel would disapprove, but Toriel left you alone, so what did she expect? Even if she were here, you feel that her words would seem naive. Perhaps there is nothing between sparing a Froggit or killing it, but you remember _pain_ and you remember _feeling weak_. A weakness so painful it felt like it might consume you. A weakness turned to despair, driving you away from humans, and to the underground. You would never have been able to kill a human, not as you were. Humans died, though. You were expected to die. It didn't matter if you lived or died, so...?

Each kill is a sacrifice. You understand that. Every movement makes you stronger, gives you knowledge to act upon. _Moving like this will cause them to--. If I avoid that attack like this, then there's an opening like that--_. You only have a stick in your hand, but you're determined to protect yourself. For that, you will have to become stronger. If monsters try to flee from you, then you want there to be a reason for them to be scared. These monsters are weak, but you feel that it is only really luck that landed you somewhere like this; the monsters could all have been as powerful as that flower, and _then_ what? You might meet Flowey again. You don't want anybody else to have to save you - for that instance, and overall. If you have to fight to be able to protect yourself, then that's just how it has to be. Every kill, a sacrifice to your strength. You won't waste that offering.

Fights become few and far between. You never really thought about it, given how there was always another cow or another sheep or another pig, but you could take any hall of the ruins and clear it entirely. It was one thing to scare them, but to eradicate them completely--

You find a toy knife. Clearly a toy. The childishness of it irritates you, but it is still more sturdy than a stick. Maybe silence is better than fear. If you protect yourself to the extent that there is no-one left to fight--... isn't that the best that anybody could hope for?

You walk, uninterrupted, to Toriel's home. She smiles, and is kind, but might not always be so. Anybody can turn, you know that. You tuck the toy knife away from sight, and notice her expression as she brushes dust from you with one large paw. And yet she smiles, and she invites you in.


End file.
